Free and Open Source Software Asia-Pacific Consultation
(FOSSAP II)
FOSS and the Pan Asia ICT R&D Grants Programme
Siem Reap
Sept 2005

Building institutional research capacity in the developing countries of the Asia-Pacific region

Directed at encouraging original and innovative networking solutions to specific development problems.

Small Grants up to a maximum budget of US$9,000 for up to 12 months

Large Grants up to a maximum budget of US$30,000 for up to 24 months

Innovative ICT applications, with a clear focus on practical and replicable approaches and techniques.

Internet infrastructure design, performance, management policy and related topics.

Social impacts from specific ICT policies and interventions and application

Policy matters, especially linked to areas such as culture, environment, gender equity, health, social equity, sustainable community development, technology diffusion/transfer, and benefits to rural areas.

Grants Area Focus

e-learning

4%

e-government

4%

Agriculture & Environment

4%

Telemedicine

13%

Rural Development

11%

Labour Market Study

2%

Networking & Information

Sharing

28%

Language & Fonts

4%

Women Issues

6%

Children Issues

2%

Culture Preservation

4%

Policy Studies

2%

Software Localization

2%

Publishing

2%

Telecenter

2%

MIS & Remote Information

4%

Internet Access &

Performance

4%

Encourage developing country organizations in the Asia-Pacific region.

Consortium of developed and developing country organizations

Project proposals that reflect co-funding with other agencies are favourably considered.

Applicants must be a government body or a legally incorporated entity.

Applicants from private organizations have to be in partnership with civil services / non-government organizations / not-for-profit organizations.

Applications from unaffiliated individuals, or from teams of such individuals, will not be accepted.

Applications that have been rejected by the Programme may not be re-submitted for consideration again.

2 rounds of grant competition per year (March and October)

Programme Committee reviews proposals in each round

International Development Research Centre (IDRC)

Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme (APDIP)

Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC)

Internet Society (ISOC)

Microsoft Operations Pte Ltd

Asia Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC)

Programme projects must be transparent and public

Project results, papers, research data, techniques, tools, etc. openly available and distributed

Recipient agree to free dissemination

Researchers appropriately acknowledged

www.apdip.net/ictrnd/

Open Source Localization Toolkit

develop localization projects without the need of specialized help

tested by the Khmer Software Initiative

Free Font for Malayalam

localized versions of free software

Free Font Urdu

Nafees Nasta’leeq allows Urdu computing on Microsoft 2000, NT, XP, Unix and Linux platforms

Wireless Teacher Training & e-Learning Platform (Indonesia)

Pilot Testing of a Local Government Network Knowledge Sharing Network (Philippines)

Policy, Praxis and the Public Interest (Philippines)

Using ICT to build capacities of HIV/AIDS Service Providers (India)

Community GIS (India)

Thank you!
Phet Sayo

Phet Sayo

Phet Sayo

Phet Sayo

Research and development into innovative ICT applications, with a clear focus on practical and replicable approaches and techniques.

Research on Internet infrastructure design, performance, management policy and related topics.

Research with clear learning outcomes and social impacts from specific ICT policies and interventions and application of Internet technologies.

Research on policy matters affecting Internet networking in the Asia-Pacific region, especially linked to areas such as culture, environment, gender equity, health, social equity, sustainable community development, technology diffusion/transfer, and benefits to rural areas.

Development of practical solutions based on the application of proven and readily available Internet technologies with minimum basic research.

Technology-related issues such as broadband connectivity, “last mile innovation, mobile and wireless technologies for the developing world, and increasing the capacity or efficiency of existing network infrastructures.

The results of the Pan Asia ICT R&D Grants

Programme projects will be transparent and made

available publicly via the Internet and other sources,

as appropriate. Project results, including papers,

research data and findings, resources, techniques,

and tools will be openly available and distributed in

the interests of sharing research results and research

experiences widely. Recipients under the Pan Asia

ICT R&D Grants Programme agree to the condition

of free dissemination of their project research results.

The Programme will not seek their permission in

disseminating and publishing research results in any

form, and will duly acknowledge the authors of the

work. Permission is not required for reproduction by

users, the only condition being that the project

researchers should be appropriately acknowledged,

and that copies of such reproductions should be

provided to the Programme and the project

researchers.

Nepal	4

Pacific Islands	1

Philippines	9

Indonesia	5

Malaysia	2

Pakistan	2

China	4

Central Asia	1

Lao PDR	1

India	19

Viet Nam	3

Cambodia	1

Bhutan	1

Sri Lanka	2

Mongolia	1

Applications to ICT R&D Grants Programme are encouraged from developing country organizations in the Asia-Pacific region. Applications from a consortium of developed and developing country organizations are also encouraged as the programme promotes cross-country research and partnership, teamwork, transfer and sharing of research experiences and know-how. Project proposals that reflect co-funding with other agencies are favourably considered.

Applicants must be a government body or a legally incorporated entity.

Applicants from private organizations have to be in partnership with civil services / non-government organizations / not-for-profit organizations.

Applications from unaffiliated individuals, or from teams of such individuals, will not be accepted.

Applications that have been rejected by the Programme may not be re-submitted for consideration again.

The Pan Asia ICT R&D Grants Programme Committee

meets twice a year to review proposals. Responses

to submissions will generally be given by

the committee within 3 to 4 weeks of being reviewed.

In certain cases this may take longer, depending on

the complexity of the proposal and whether further

information needs to be sought by the Committee.

Hope that the Programme can help to facilitate the pooling of resources among the organizations which share common interests in building capacity for ICT research and development in the region

The results of the Pan Asia ICT R&D Grants

Programme projects will be transparent and made

available publicly via the Internet and other sources,

as appropriate. Project results, including papers,

research data and findings, resources, techniques,

and tools will be openly available and distributed in

the interests of sharing research results and research

experiences widely. Recipients under the Pan Asia

ICT R&D Grants Programme agree to the condition

of free dissemination of their project research results.

The Programme will not seek their permission in

disseminating and publishing research results in any

form, and will duly acknowledge the authors of the

work. Permission is not required for reproduction by

users, the only condition being that the project

researchers should be appropriately acknowledged,

and that copies of such reproductions should be

provided to the Programme and the project

researchers.

Hope that the Programme can help to facilitate the pooling of resources among the organizations which share common interests in building capacity for ICT research and development in the region

Design, develop and implement telephony-based data collection system using FOSS tools in one local government unit

Design, develop and implement professional training program for community health workers in one local government unit

Develop community partnerships for child injury surveillance and prevention activities

The networked surveillance system is only a tool to facilitate concerted efforts in the utilization of data, systematically collected, processed and presented in an electronic virtual map, to inform necessary activities to control the spread of DHF in the community. The main output of the project is a report on the effectiveness of the web-based DHF surveillance system in driving appropriate actions to highlight possible DHF outbreaks, to ensure appropriate resources to provide care to DHF cases, and to prevent the spread of DHF in the community. The report will be published on the website, and rewritten to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Open Source Localisation Toolkit (ICT R&D Grants 2004)

Several countries in the Asia/Pacific region are at this time considering starting localization projects, but given the size and industrialization level of the countries, they lack the human resources to start these projects without outside expert advice. This project proposes the development of a plain-language Toolkit that will allow Asia/Pacific countries (that do not have computer systems in their own language) to develop localization projects without the need of specialized help.

The Toolkit will be developed along the next two years, but several preliminary releases will be made public before. It will be tested by the Khmer Software Initiative, a Cambodian localization project, as well as another localization project if possible.

For more information: http://www.apdip.net/projects/ictrnd/2004/L11-kh

Free Font for Malayalam (ICT R&D Grants)

The benefits of Information Technology are reaching only a very small minority, thus creating a digital divide. The two major issues here are lack of availability of software with local language support and the very high cost of software.

This Project aims to reduce this digital divide by creating localised versions of free software. This project will create Free Font for Malayalam, create a toolkit (toolkits are basic building blocks in creating GUI based applications) with Malayalam support, create localised desktop and office productivity applications and documentation in Malayalam. This will create the base for further development in software with local language support, thus enabling a larger segment of the population to enjoy the benefits of information technology.

For more information: http://www.apdip.net/projects/malayalam/

Free Font Urdu (ICT R&D Grants 2002)

Nafees Nasta’leeq allows Urdu computing on Microsoft 2000, NT, XP, Unix and Linux platforms. This font enables desktop and internet publishing, and electronic communication in Urdu using existing software (without any plug-ins) supporting OTF specifications, e.g. MS Word, MS Excel, MS Outlook (email), Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, Mozilla and MS PowerPoint.

For more information: http://www.apdip.net/projects/ictrnd/2002/nafees/

Dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) has been the leading cause of hospitalization and death among children in Southeast Asia since the first DHF cases were reported from hospitals in Manila, in the 1950s (Gubler, 2002). At the end of 2003 and the beginning of 2004, the number of DHF cases increased dramatically in at least 12 of 32 provinces in Indonesia (Ahmad, 2004; Arya and Varma, 2004). Yogyakarta Special Region has been among the first provinces highly endemic for DHF until now. Most DHF cases are diagnosed in hospitals, equipped with diagnostic facilities. However, the epidemiologic investigation in the community is carried out by public health staff at the community health center (puskesmas), once notified by the hospital that a DHF case lives in the administrative catchment area of the health center. An outbreak of DHF is assessed by district health office, and control measures are decided by district health officials (Kusnanto, 2003). The fragmented DHF control in the community is unfortunate, because the health administrators, the local government and the community usually respond to an outbreak when too many persons have already came down with the disease, and preventable DHF fatalities have occured. A web-based surveillance system which records and publishes accumulated number of DHF cases in every subdistrict or village every day, will facilitate an integrated approach in the detection and control of DHF cases in the community.

Better computers, with literally unlimited speed and storage capacity, the availability of powerful open source software and netware development, and improved computer literacy among public health and health care workforce could be capitalized to ensure the sustainability of the project. Database design to facilitate DHF surveillance will use mysql, one of the most popular open-source database management software. The web-based interfaces will be constructed using PHP version 4.2.2, another popular open-source software. To monitor the time-space clustering of DHF incidence in Sleman district, a simple web-based geographic information system (GIS) is used. The geoposition of the houses where the DHF cases live will be plotted in the map using global positioning system (GPS). The construction of the web-based map (under PHP version 4.2.2) was supported by WHO grant (SE/04/225281) to the Center for Health Informatics and Learning, Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia.

2005-09-03T06:59:37